A guitar, and more particularly an electric guitar, is a stringed musical instrument where the strings extend from a tail piece at the rear of the guitar, over an elevated bridge to the peg head of the guitar. The bridge of the guitar is secured to the body of the guitar and is typically slightly elevated with respect to the tail piece and the peg head so that the strings are deflected slightly as they pass over the guitar bridge.
One form of guitar bridge comprises a relatively thick body which has a plurality of recesses defined in it. An upstanding guitar string support plate is supported in each of the recesses. The edge of the plate projects up out of the recess. A respective guitar string passes over and is supported by each plate. By appropriate screw adjustment means, or the like, provided in the guitar bridge, each support plate is movable across its recess from the front end closer to the peg head to the rear end closer to the tail piece, for correct adjustments in string length, tone quality, etc.
At the ends of the guitar bridge are defined holes that receive respective support members and the support members are adjusted to hold the guitar bridge off the surface of the guitar body by a fixed distance. The tension of the guitar strings helps to maintain the bridge thus fashioned in position. In the arrangement just described, the guitar bridge is not integrally fixed to the main body of the guitar. As a result, the guitar bridge moves with the vibration of the guitar strings as the guitar is used. This causes the tuning of the strings to be shifted. Furthermore, it is desirable to obtain a trailing sound that stems from the vibration of the strings. With a guitar bridge thus supported, no satisfactory trailing sound is obtained. Furthermore, over time, the guitar strings will become damaged due to the friction between the above-mentioned support plates for the strings and the strings themselves as a result of the shifting of the guitar bridge when the strings are plucked.